They are not doing well. The Brazilian soccer team fell 1-0 to Paraguay on Tuesday in the South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, a defeat that worsens the agony of trying to get a place in the Cup that will be hosted by North America and deepens the crisis that the Canarinha is experiencing. There is a certain concern among the fans about not qualifying for a World Cup for the first time. After losing to the Paraguayans, the team led by Dorival Júnior falls from fourth to fifth place and is tied with Venezuela, sixth, at 10 points. The top six qualify and the seventh will play a play-off. But criticism for the poor play is multiplying against a team that was also left out of the Paris Games.
After the defeat, the fourth in the last five qualifying matches, Vinicius declared: “I apologize to the cheeringwho is always on our side. But it is a difficult moment.” The Real Madrid player added in statements to Globo Esporte: “We have to assimilate the criticism to return Brazil to the top as soon as possible.”
By the time the next men’s World Cup is held, the only five-time champion in history will have gone a quarter of a century without winning the title, since 2002 with Ronaldo. A whole generation of Brazilians have only seen their players lift the top trophy in old YouTube videos. That hurts — and a lot — in the country that gave birth to Pelé and that still prides itself on being the country of football. In the Qatar championship, they lost in the quarterfinals, on penalties, to Croatia. And they had to witness the added blow of the victory going to their bitterest rival: neighbouring Argentina, led by Messi.
Brazil started the match against Paraguay with a forward line that could be that of Real Madrid: Vinicius, Rodrygo and Endrick. Although they finished the match with five attackers, they were unable to turn around a match that had been decided in the first half by a great goal from Diego Gómez. The changes also had no effect in this eighth round of qualifying. It had been 16 years since the Canarinha had lost to the Paraguayans.
In the ten games that Dorival Júnior has been Brazil’s coach, he has not been able to unite the team, mired in a crisis of play and identity. The Brazilian coach later acknowledged that the first half of the match in Asunción was the worst 45 minutes of play for the Canarinha since he took over. Brazil only shot on goal three times in the entire match, although their percentage of possession was much higher than Paraguay’s.
With the team lost and Neymar injured, Brazil is adrift. And its stars, especially Vinicius, are each fighting their own war, a tortuous path to guarantee their place in the World Cup in Canada, the USA and Mexico.
Neymar is missed more and more by the day. Fans have been clamoring from the stands for the return of the player, who has been sidelined for almost a year due to a knee injury, but his return will take much longer than fans, teammates and the coaching staff would like. The national team, which is closely following the recovery process of its star, is aware after the latest medical tests that Neymar will probably not return before 2025.
Brazilian sports commentators have been criticising the team’s lack of creativity for some time now. Now, the coach’s constant indecision is added. He puts on a midfielder, takes him off, puts on a false nine, takes him off. The team is totally disjointed. That is the main handicap, but in addition to the lack of direction, the team is undergoing a deep renewal process with the arrival of many young players. There is always a newcomer in the adaptation phase to integrate into the team, now Endrick and Estevão.
Another deep-rooted problem is that Brazil has been exporting its football talent to Europe for decades. Virtually none of its men’s national team plays at home.
